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knewe™-Mg prebiotic

A cost-effective performance prebiotic, knewe™-Mg helps the gut flora do their job more effectively. So animals are able to extract more nutrients from the same amount of feed, making them healthier, more productive and more profitable. For ruminants (cows, sheep and other grazers).

Scientifically-proven to increase milk solid production in dairy cows at an economic return of 2–3 times the product cost

How it works

Made from CDS – a bioethanol fermentation co-product – knewe™-Mg subtly alters rumen chemistry, increasing absorption of feed. The rumen-boost in desirable microbes enhance propionic and acetic acid production, while lowering lactic acid. So animals are more productive and in an overall better condition.

During bioethanol production, the by-product ‘stillage’ is created. The solid portion of the stillage is known as distillers’ grains, which is commonly used as animal feed. The non-solid portion (‘thin stillage’) is reduced to a semi-liquid through evaporation. We call this condensed distillers’ solubles – or CDS.

Because CDS contains glycerol and lactic acid, you can’t completely dry it (and it goes off very quickly). Sometimes it’s sprayed back onto distillers’ grains to evaporate even more. But it’s otherwise a troublesome waste stream for the bioethanol industry.

But knewe™-Mg uses a novel patented mineral chelation and drying process to create a shelf-stable powder out of CDS – a powder in which the added minerals create a range of valuable supplements livestock benefit from.

On-farm trial results

Dairy

We have strong evidence from two dairy trials, showing that knewe™-Mg provides direct economic returns of 2–3 times the cost of the product.

In the trials, we fed cows in Southland, New Zealand, our recommended daily dose of 400g of knewe™-Mg. As well as benefiting from optimum magnesium levels, a faster recovery after calving and a good balance of weight gain to milk solids production, the cows also produced better quality milk through better feed use and less waste.

Other animal benefits included:

A faster recovery of body condition after calving, with earlier initiation of oestrus and fewer cows missing a year of production through not conceiving

We have strong evidence from two dairy trials, showing that knewe™-Mg provides direct economic returns of 2–3 times the cost of the product.

Without planning on it, we also discovered that knewe™ prebiotics are effective in beef cattle – and when produced from quite different raw materials.

We did two on-farm trials with beef finishers using grape marc, which had been treated with calcium carbonate. But it was only in retrospect that we realised we’d carried out the knewe™ process (and that there’s a much wider range of raw materials for knewe™ prebiotics than first thought).

In those trials we achieved 30% higher weight gain rate and also improved the eating quality of the meat. We are currently conducting another beef trial based on our retrospective insights.

In autumn, the trialled cows gave a 15% increase in milk solids; while in spring on pasture, there was an increase of 23%. Based on a dairy farm with 400 cows, that’s an estimated $250,000 of extra profit per annum. Or up to $1.70 profit per cow, per day.